Jeremy Hammond
| Jeremy Hammond | |
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| Born | Jeremy Hammond January 8, 1985 Chicago, IL |
| Relatives | Jason Hammond (Twin Brother) |
| Website | |
Jeremy Hammond (born January 8, 1985) is a political activist, web-developer and musician from Chicago. He is currently facing federal criminal charges for allegedly publicizing internal files of the private spying agency Stratfor through the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.[1][2][3] He is the founder of the computer security training website HackThisSite,[4] created in 2003 following his graduation from Glenbard East High School.[5]
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Background [edit]
Childhood [edit]
Hammond was raised in the Chicago suburb of Glendale Heights with his twin brother Jason.[6][4] Hammond became interested in computers at an early age, programming video games in Qbasic by age eight, and building databases by age 13.[4][7] As a student at Glendale East High School in the nearby suburb, Lombard, Illinois, Hammond won first place in a district-wide science competition for a computer program he designed.[4] Also in high school, he became a peace activist, organizing a student walkout on the day of the Iraq invasion and starting a student newspaper to oppose the Iraq War. His high school principal described Hammond as “old beyond his years.”[4]
Education [edit]
Hammond attended the University of Illinois at Chicago on a full scholarship. In the spring of 2004, during his freshman year, he pointed out a security flaw on the computer science department’s website to department administrators, offering to fix it.[5] For pointing out the flaw, Hammond was called before the department chair and ultimately banned from returning for his sophomore year. [8][7].
Music [edit]
Jeremy, along with brother Jason, have had a lifelong interests in music performing in numerous bands through the years. Before Jeremy's arrests, they were both actively performing in the Chicago ska band Dirty Surgeon Insurgency.[7]
Career [edit]
Hammond worked as a Mac technician in Villa Park, Illinois.[5] He also worked as a web developer for Chicago-based Rome & Company. His boss at Rome & Company wrote in 2010 that Hammond is "friendly, courteous and polite and while we suspect, he has a low tolerance for corporate posturing, he has never demonstrated any contempt for business in the workplace.”[9]
Twin Brother [edit]
Jason Hammond is a musician living in Chicago.
Activism [edit]
Computer Security [edit]
Hammond founded the computer security training website HackThisSite at age 18, during the summer after his high school graduation.[5] The website describes itself as “a non-profit organization that strives to protect a good security culture and learning atmosphere.”[10] In its first two years the site got 2.5 million hits and acquired 110,000 members and a volunteer staff of 34.[5] The website now has a user base of over 1,800,000.[11] "Jeremy is one of the best, most helpful guys I have ever talked to," wrote HackThisSite user Brandon Perry of Texas. "He is a good guy that only taught ethical hacking."[5]
During the 2004 DEF CON event in Las Vegas, Hammond delivered a talk that encouraged "electronic civil disobedience"[5][12] as a means of protest against the annual Republican National Convention and its supporters.
Prior Political Arrests [edit]
RNC 2004 [edit]
During the 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity in New York, a convention which saw thousands of protesters unconstitutionally arrested for First Amendment activity[2], Hammond was arrested during a "drum-banging protest."[3][5][13]
Occupy Wicker Park [edit]
During a march initiated by University of Illinois students on September 12, 2005, Hammond was arrested when police intervened after twenty marchers occupied Wicker Park's Damen and Milwaukee traffic intersection.[14]
Protesting Nazis [edit]
Jeremy was arrested along with 25 others for protesting Neo-Nazi groups at the National Socialist Movement's December 10, 2005 rally in Toledo, Ohio.[4][15][16] A total of 25 people were arrested [15][17] for violations relating to a court injunction that barred public gatherings (meant to protect the Neo-Nazi's from protesters).
Chicago Pride Parade [edit]
Jeremy plead guilty to battery for getting into an altercation with anti-gay protesters while attending a gay pride parade.[18] Jeremy's lawyer, Melinda Power attributed the melee to "anti-gay protesters" who "attacked her client" at the annual Chicago Pride Parade on June 28, 2004.[18][19]
Protest Warrior [edit]
On December 7, 2006, Hammond was sentenced to two years in federal prison and three years' probation after pleading guilty to charges of breaking into the computer system of Protest Warrior, a group that aggressively targeted anti-Iraq War activists.[4] Based on information and chat logs provided by cooperating witnesses,[5] Hammond was indicted on June 26, 2006 for "hacking into a politically conservative website and stealing its computer database including credit card information."[3] At his sentencing hearing, the court heard that he was motivated by politics and not personal gain. Prosecutor Assistant U.S. attorney Brandon D. Fox said, "While Jeremy Hammond tried to make this about politics, we wanted to make this about what actually occurred, that he stole credit cards." Charges of 2.5 million dollars in damages was assessed based on $500 per credit card, for each of the 5000 credit card numbers in Hammond's possession, despite the fact that no money had been spent.[4] Hammond served his prison term at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) of Greenville, Illinois, a medium-security facility.
Protesting Holocaust Denier David Irving [edit]
On March 25, 2010, Hammond was arrested for taking part in a confrontation with Holocaust denier David Irving. Wearing black masks, five people had stormed the Edelweiss restaurant in Norridge, Illinois and "threw glasses and kicked over chairs" to drive out Irving's guests[20] during which another restaurant patron was struck by a bottle.[21]
Olympic Protest [edit]
On November 29, 2010, Hammond was sentenced to 18 months probation and 130 hours of community service for mob action, by Cook County Judge Joseph Kazmierski.[22][23] Hammond along with five others had been arrested on September 29, 2009 for tearing down a Chicago 2016 banner at Daley Plaza and burning it to protest the Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Current Case [edit]
On March 5, 2012, Hammond was arrested by FBI agents in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago[13][24][25] for actions related to the 2012 Stratfor email leak. The indictment was unsealed the following day in the Lower Manhattan federal district court.[26][27] He is one of six individuals from the United States, England and Ireland indicted.[28][29]
The arrests were largely due to cooperation by a cooperating witness known online as Sabu.[30][31] Fox News in Manhattan was first to break the story based on "access to Sabu's handlers"[32] of three arrests "on two continents," a sealed federal indictment for six, and a "separate indictment" for Hammond.[33][34][35] The story was later confirmed by other news agencies when the court papers were unsealed.[36][37]
The case is being prosecuted by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.[31][38] Hammond is represented by Elizabeth Fink,[39] "a firebrand attorney"[40] with the National Lawyers Guild who won a settlement of $8 million against the Government of New York[41] for ex-inmates of the Attica Prison riot.[42]
In November 2012, after being held for eight months without trial, Hammond was denied bail by Judge Preska; who warned that he could face life imprisonment for the Stratfor leak.[43][44]
In February 2013, the defense filed a motion asking presiding Judge Preska to recuse herself from the case on the basis that Preska's husband, Thomas Kavaler, had an email address and password released in the Stratfor disclosure. Additionally, Mr. Kavaler works with many mutual clients of Stratfor, which were also affected by the hack. Hammond’s legal team stated that Mr. Kavaler’s status “as both a victim of the alleged crimes of the accused and an attorney to many other victims creates an appearance of partiality too strong to be disregarded, requiring disqualification.”[45][46]
Support [edit]
Among the public figures who have spoken in support of Jeremy’s release are Yes Men activist Andy Bichlbaum, journalist John Knefel,[47] Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times journalist Chris Hedges, Bhopal activist Saif Ansari,[48] Center for Constitutional Rights President Emeritus Michael Ratner,[49] journalist Alexa O’Brien, National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian[50] and Icelandic parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir.[51][52]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Free Hammond, May 7,2013 [1]
- ^ Perlroth, Nicole. The New York Times, March 12, 2012. "Inside the Stratfor Attack"
- ^ a b c Patel, Milan. Federal Bureau of Investigation, March 06, 2012. Archived at the Chicago Tribune. "Jeremy Hammond federal hacking complaint"
- ^ a b c d e f g h Luman, Stuart. Chicago Magazine, July 2007. "The Hacktivist"
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hayes, Christopher. Chicago Reader, August 15, 2005. "But Can He Hack Prison?"
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-jeremy-hammond-enemy-of-the-state-20121207. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ^ a b c "Chicago hacking suspect a genius without wisdom, mom says", March 7, 2012, Chicago Tribune
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-jeremy-hammond-enemy-of-the-state-20121207?page=2. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ^ "Chicago man accused in international hacking bust", March 6, 2012, Chicago Sun-Times
- ^ HackThisSite.Org Bill of Rights
- ^ HackThisSite.Org
- ^ Hammond, Jeremy. DEF CON 2004, Las Vegas. "Electronic Civil Disobedience"
- ^ a b Anderson, Nate. March 2012. "Stakeout: how the FBI tracked and busted a Chicago Anon"
- ^ Chicago Independent Media Center. September 13, 2005. "9/12 Pirate Parade turns into a spontaneous Reclaim the Streets action with an Arrest"
- ^ a b Toledo Blade, December 12, 2005. "Court date delayed for 25 suspects"
- ^ Brooks, Michael. Cleveland Independent Media Center, December 21, 2005. "Arrested Protesters Speak Out About Toledo Police"
- ^ National Press Photographers Association, December 11, 2005. "Three Photojournalists Arrested Covering Nazi Rally"
- ^ a b Coen, Jeff. Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2004. "3 people are charged in clash at gay parade"
- ^ Baim, Tracy. Windy City Media Group, June 30, 2004. "400,000 at Pride, Anti-Gays Spark Protests, Arrests"
- ^ Norridge Sun-Times, December 7, 2009. Archived from Norridge Harwood Heights News at "Holocaust denier sparks tension at Edelweiss"
- ^ Jarvis, Greg. December 23, 2010. "Masked Men Storm Restaurant Hosting Neo-Nazi Author, Patron Hit in Face"
- ^ CBS Chicago, November 29, 2010. "Protesters Who Burned Olympic Banner Get Probation"
- ^ ABC Chicago, November 29, 2010. "Chicago Olympic protestors sentenced for mob action"
- ^ Goudie, Chuck. ABC7 Chicago, March 6, 2012. "Chicagoan charged in international cyber attacks"
- ^ Lighty, Todd and Wailin Wong. Chicago Tribune, March 6, 2012. "Chicago man, 27, charged in cyber attack"
- ^ Docket Report - "U.S.A. v. Ackroyd et al."
- ^ Esposito, Richard, Aaron Katersky and Pierre Thomas. ABC News, March 6, 2012. "LulzSec 'Leader' Turns on Fellow Hacktivists"
- ^ "Superseding Indictment (May 2, 2012)"
- ^ Bright, Arthur. The Christian Science Monitor, March 8, 2012. "Jeremy Hammond, alleged to be 'Anarchaos'"
- ^ Sengupta, Somini. The New York Times, March 6, 2012. "Arrests Sow Mistrust Inside a Clan of Hackers"
- ^ a b United States Department of Justice, March 06, 2012. "Six Hackers in the United States and Abroad Charged for Crimes Affecting Over One Million Victims"
- ^ Anderson, Nate. Ars Technica, March 6, 2012. "LulzSec leader "Sabu" worked with FBI since last summer"
- ^ Winter, Jana. FoxNews.com, March 6, 2012. "EXCLUSIVE: Infamous international hacking group LulzSec brought down by own leader"
- ^ Winter, Jana. FoxNews.com, March 6, 2012. EXCLUSIVE: Inside LulzSec, a mastermind turns on his minions"
- ^ Winter, Jana. FoxNews.com, March 6, 2012. "EXCLUSIVE: Unmasking the world’s most wanted hacker"
- ^ Estes, Adam Clark. The Atlantic Wire, March 6, 2012. "FBI Says LulzSec Hacker Kingpin Was an Informant"
- ^ Ball, James. The Guardian (UK), March 6, 2012. "LulzSec court papers reveal extensive FBI co-operation with hackers"
- ^ Hurtado, Patricia and Michael Riley. Bloomberg, March 6, 2012. "Hackers Charged in Crackdown on LulzSec, Anonymous Groups"
- ^ Winter, Jana. FoxNews.com, March 15, 2012. "LulzSec-linked hacker who threatened to burn White House appears in court"
- ^ The Economist, September 23, 2011. "A bloody day in New York: The Attica prison uprising"
- ^ Tully, Tracey. New York Daily News, January 5, 2000."Ex-attica Inmates Get $8m In Riot Suit"
- ^ Ratner, Michael. The Nation, September 12, 2011. "From Attica to Pelican Bay"
- ^ "Anonymous hacker behind Stratfor attack faces life in prison", 23 November 2012, RT.com
- ^ "Chicago man denied bail before NYC hacking trial", November 21, 2012, Chicago Tribune
- ^ "Jeremy Hammond's legal team seeks judge's recusal"
- ^ "Judge Rules No Evidence to Disqualify Her from Hearing Case of Alleged Stratfor Hacker Jeremy Hammond"
- ^ "Jeremy Hammond support rally at Judge Preska's recusal hearing"
- ^ "Jeremy Hammond Press Conference", November 29, 2012, NYC
- ^ "Michael Ratner statement of support (edited transcript)" michaelratner.com
- ^ "National Lawyer's Guild Press Release" nlg.org
- ^ "April 10, 2013 court date recap" freehammond.com
- ^ "Icelandic Lawmaker Birgitta Jónsdóttir on Challenging Gov’t Secrecy from Twitter to Bradley Manning" April 8, 2013, democracynow.org
External links [edit]
- Hammond, Jeremy. DEF CON 2004, Las Vegas. "Electronic Civil Disobedience"
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